Jacob and 2 women
by David N. Brown
Summary: Wichita and Little Rock try sharing Columbus... Because not enough people were reading my "Exotroopers" stories. David N. Brown resides in Mesa, Arizona.
1. Wedding night

**I place full responsibility on Slytherin' Queen for saying this sounded like a good idea... The story title and lyrics are from a Rich Mullins song, and I swear I got this idea entirely from the Book of Genesis.**

_Jacob, he loved Rachel and Rachel, she loved him  
And Leah was just there for dramatic effect _

Little Rock lay in bed, still awake, and still flushed and smiling, listening to the sound of her husband's heartbeat. The events of the night had been strange, awkward and sometimes frightening, but there was nothing she regretted. Raising her head, she whispered, "Is he always like this?"

On the other side of Columbus, Wichita said, "A lot. Not all the time."

"I guess we wore him out."

"You had him last."

"Yeah, well, you had him _twice_. I was afraid I was going to wake up a virgin." She kissed Columbus's cheek, and patted the hand on her hip. "But my man came through for me." She reached down for a casual grope.

"Don't do that," Wichita said. Columbus grimaced. "He doesn't like that. Not unless we're going all the way, I mean."

"Wait... Is he still awake?" Little Rock poked his nose.

"He gets... sort of halfway," Wichita said. "When he wakes up, he can tell me what he hears."

"Sneaky," Little Rock said, drumming her fingers on their husband's ribs. "Trying to eavesdrop when we think he isn't listening." She looked at Wichita, lying with Columbus's right arm around her. She felt a little jealousy at the intimacy with which their husband held his first bride. Her older sister had married Columbus (or at any rate slept with him) three years earlier, and she was not quite halfway toward having their second baby. That was what had set things going. Little Rock loved her nephew, and as she grew from girl to young woman, she had fallen in love with her brother-in-law. It had taken her sister's intervention for her to admit it, even to herself. That was how she ended up here, wedded on her sixteenth birthday and sharing the night with her sister.

She met her sister's eyes. Wichita kept a solemn face when she was with Columbus (something Little Rock had known long before tonight), but as their eyes met, she smirked. "So," she said to her younger sister. Little Rock grinned wider, and blushed even deeper. She could not speak, but she was struggling not to laugh. "Come on. Say it: I..."

"Well, I know you do," she managed, then burst out laughing, so hard her chest heaved and her ribs ached. She had laughed the same way, when- "Wait... wait," she hiccuped, "is he smiling? He's smiling!"

"It's okay," Wichita said, kissing their man on the cheek. "I love you anyway."

"We love you," Little Rock said. Soon, they all settled into sleep.


	2. Birth Days

**I looked at the counter today and thought, "What? This is a hit?" Fair warning, this chapter is going to set the tone for the rest.**

_And her sky is just a petal pressed in a book of a memory  
Of the time he thought he loved her and they kissed _

_And her friends say, "Ah, he's a devil"  
But she says, "No, he is a dream"  
This is the world as best as I can remember it_

Wichita and Little Rock managed a friendly rivalry for their husband's attentions. But, by semi-spoken agreement, Little Rock had him all to herself in the morning. He was still shy with her, but he enjoyed her laughter and smiles, and there were times when they spent more than an hour just sitting and talking. Then there were times when she brusquely interrupted with, "Less talk, more cock."

Wichita wanted more attention than usual as she got further into the pregnancy. On the nights she insisted she was especially needy, she handed her son Sam off to her sister. Once or twice a month, they would spend a night all together. Wichita never showed any envy toward her sister for sharing her husband's body, but there were more than a few dark looks exchanged when she walked in on their morning talks.

Wichita's second son arrived in May. Columbus held him up exultantly, and dubbed him Daniel. Little Rock cuddled him and got what might be a smile, while Wichita lay looking a little too pleased. As Little Rock gave the newborn to his mother, Wichita hugged her and whispered, "Your time's coming."

Little Rock was reasonably sure she conceived that night.

Columbus and his wives hadn't seen much of Tallahassee since they settled on their homestead in northern California. He was still roaming, killing all the zombies he could find. But once in a while he dropped by. "Holy *!" he said as Little Rock came out to meet him, "the little sister got big!"

Little Rock smiled and cradled the bulge in her belly. "Yup... I'm four months along." As she turned to call to her husband and sister, Tal frowned.

"There's settlements cropping up all over the place," Tal said. "There's a big one not twenty miles from here that just opened a hospital." He glanced to Little Rock, then to Columbus.

Little Rock was amicable to going to the hospital, but over one thing and another they didn't get around to it until early in the sixth month. That was when Wichita found her lying in front of the toilet in a pool of blood. As Columbus drove breakneck through the mountains, Little Rock whimpered over and over: "I had a boy... a boy."


	3. Homecoming

**Lots of hits, no complaints. So, here goes... **

_Now Jacob got two women and a whole house full of kids  
And he schemed his way back to the promised land  
And he finds it's one thing to win 'em  
And it's another to keep 'em content  
When he knows that he is only just one man _

Little Rock spent a week in the hospital. The doctors told her that the cause was an old infection- something left behind by the only other man who ever took her, well before she was a woman. Her husband was beside her day and night, and her sister stayed by her as often as she could without leaving her own children unattended. The night before she was released, the doctors talked to Little Rock and Columbus, kindly but firmly warning that she might not conceive again, and that it would be dangerous for her if she did. When the doctors left, Columbus looked sad and troubled. He only looked more troubled when Little Rock smiled and said, "We can always beat the odds."

while her sister was recovering, Wichita insisted on abstaining, and was not entirely pleased when Columbus accepted it without argument. On the sixth week, Columbus took both wives back to his bed, and afterward, he had the talk. "The doctors think Little Rock shouldn't have more children," he said. "I think- maybe- they are right."

"No," Little Rock said. "I want babies. I always have. And I married you because there is no one I would rather have babies with."

Columbus sighed and glanced to Wichita. She was silent, and her face a blank. "Abbie... I love you, and I think you are a wonderful mother. I mean that: You are a mother, now, even if the kids aren't the ones you gave birth to. You should know that better than anyone. Krista isn't your sister by blood, but you _are_ sisters, because you love each other. If you did have the same mother and father, you couldn't love each other more! I mean- how many sisters could even try to do- something- like... this..." He started to sink back under the covers.

Wichita reached across to her sister. "I love you, Abbs," she said. Little Rock only frowned. "I want you to be happy and well. I want you here for us, for Sammy and Dan..."

Little Rock darted off the bed. "You! Your husband, your kids, you! _You you you!_ And easy for you to say, when you're putting out like an assembly line! What about me? What about mine?" She stormed out of the room, pausing belatedly to throw on a robe. Columbus looked expectantly at Wichita, but she did nothing.

They both came when they heard a baby's wail. They found Little Rock in Danny's room, holding him so tightly that he cried.

**Now, go read something with exotroopers!**


	4. Restless

_And his sky's an empty bottle and when he's drunk the ocean dry  
Well he sails off three sheets to some reckless wind  
And his friends say, "Ain't it awful"  
And he says, "No, I think it's fine"  
And this is the world as best as I can remember it _

It happened while Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock were watching _Boys and Girls_ together. "The characters work, but the story is just stupid," he said. "Ryan was happy with Megan. Jennifer was doing fine on her own. A guy like him wouldn't cheat on a girl who already liked him, never mind throw it away on someone he already struck out with. All it really is, is the screenwriters making the story into something that isn't real. Like, if two people have fun together when they're kids, and still have fun in college, then they must be `destined' for each other. That's not real life! In real life, people find out that some of the things they wanted aren't things they can have or even still want. Real people can see that some good things are only good at what they are. They learn to be happy with what they have, or they are never happy at all! So why couldn't they tell a story like that? Let Ryan learn to be happy as friends with Jennifer and a boyfriend with Megan! Because that wouldn't just be more real; I think it would be a lot more positive than some screenwriter's idea of predestination."

"Whoa," Little Rock said, rubbing his shoulder, "it's a cheesy movie, not a manifesto." Columbus kissed her, and then put an arm around each of his wives. It was only then that he realized Wichita was crying.

He took them both that night. He started with Little Rock, and finished with Krista. When it was over, the younger sister went right to sleep, but Wichita remained awake, shifting restlessly. "Do you love me?" she said. He mumbled the affirmative. "Do I make you happy?" He never answered.

Then there came his 29th birthday (in his sixth year as a married man). As the day approached, his wives jockeyed to spend the night with him, making various proposals to entice him. Little Rock seemed to be making the stronger bid. Then Wichita tried to sweeten the deal: "I'll make you dinner!"

Columbus gave a noncommital but definitely positive response. Little Rock looked disdainfully at Wichita as he walked out. "What?" Wichita said defensively.

"You... just offered _him_ food... for sex." Wichita "humphed" indignantly, but blushed furiously.

Two weeks later Wichita announced she was expecting her third. Soon after, she had the worst of her few open fights with her sister. The next morning, Columbus went out to check out a newly cleared field. At nightfall, he had yet to come back.

The day after that, Wichita never got out of bed. Little Rock brought her meals and took care of the kids. At the end of the day, she told her sister, "He will come back." The next day, Wichita was up, but didn't say a word to her sister, but in the evening they hugged each other and cried. The day after that, they played with the boys, catching and releasing insects at a pond, and spent all night talking.

On the fourth day, Columbus was back in the house, returned unannounced while they slept. Tallahassee was with him. Nothing was ever spoken between husbands and wives about what had transpired in those three days.


	5. Wishes and Worries

**Next to last chapter, and the last is already in progress... I appreciate readers for following through this odd little run. Reviews VERY welcome.**

_Now Rachel's weeping for the children  
That she thought she could not bear  
And she bears a sorrow that she cannot hide  
And she wishes she was with them  
But she just looks and they're not there  
Seems that love comes for just a moment  
And then it passes on by _

Wichita was on her fourth child when Little Rock got pregnant again- this time with twins. Columbus was attentive to the point of being a nuisance, and increasingly anxious. He feared losing his youngest bride, just turned twenty-one. Little Rock feared losing the baby more. But what she fretted over most was how Columbus would act when she delivered. She still had the picture etched in her mind of him lifting Danny high over his head, an expression of pure joy on her face. It was her obsession to relive that moment, with her own baby in his arms. And, it was very important to her to have a boy. She didn't think it could be the same with a girl, even after he saw him do a dance with Wichita's first baby girl in his arms, and she felt that some power in the universe owed her a boy.

She delivered two baby girls, five weeks early. It was a close thing, but both were as healthy as could be expected, fragile but perfect. Columbus didn't raise them or swing them, but held their tiny bodies tenderly and fearfully, like crystal that might break at a touch. When she saw the tip of his pinky in Lindsay's jewel-like fist, she knew that this was better than any replay of Wichita's deliveries. "Three boys and three girls," he said, wiping tears from his eyes. "The perfect family." Wichita and Little Rock gave each other wary glances.

From the day she returned from the hospital, she wrapped her life around her daughters. She often wept when she held them, and sometimes held them too tightly and they cried. When her husband took her, he often cried, as viscerally as she laughed, and sometimes he held her so tight that she cried out in pain.

Lindsay and Elizabeth grew somewhat slowly in their first year, and Wichita opined more than once that this was because their mother insisted on nursing them herself. On occasion, Wichita would do something she thought would remedy the situation, and Little Rock found out about it and got angry. On one of these occasions, Columbus and Tallahassee were both within earshot. While his wives complained loudly and in detail, Columbus said with desperate enthusiasm, "So, tell me about the latest zombie kill of the week!"

Despite their quarrels, Little Rock and Wichita spent more time together, and grew closer than they hat in years. The shared bond of motherhood renewed the bonds of sisterhood, and one night, after Wichita told her sister she thought she was pregnant again, Wichita confessed her deepest fear: "Sometimes... I wonder if Columbus loves me any more, or if he ever did."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"Yes! And you know what he said to me? `Of course I love you! You're the mother of my sons!' And I let him make love to me, but I wanted to scream, `What the *'s that supposed to mean?'" After a spate of weeping, she concluded, "You're lucky, Abbs. You're the one he's with no matter what. Me- I don't even know if he would have stayed to our first anniversary if I hadn't gotten knocked up."

Then Little Rock screeched: "_Me? __Lucky?_ Do you know how much I worried whether I was ever going to give him a baby? It wasn't just because I wanted to. I was afraid, if I didn't, or even if I didn't give him a boy, he wouldn't love me. Not the way he loves you."

Wichita wrapped her arms around her sister and said tenderly, "You... are a dumb little * head."

There were long moments of silence. Then Little Rock began to laugh, the way she laughed on her wedding night. "I think- maybe- it... _runs in the family!_" Then her sister started laughing even harder than she did.


	6. Ending and Beginning

**I debated how to end this, and especially possible reactions. I finally decided to go the Frank R. Stockton route, and give everybody a reason to be pissed off.**

_And her sky is just a bandit  
Swinging at the end of a hangman's noose  
'Cause he stole the moon and must be made to pay for it  
And her friends say, "My, that's tragic"  
She says, "Especially for the moon"  
And this is the world as best as I can remember it _

Lindsay and Elizabeth seemed to sprout in their third year, until they were as tall as their half-sister Colleen. Their mother no longer cried when she held them, though sometimes they would protest that she was holding them too tight. Every time Little Rock made a new mark where she measured their height on the wall, her mind whirled at all the hopes and fears, wishes and dreams she had held, the ones which had been fulfilled, and the ones which had failed, and the ones which might yet come to be.

In the tenth year of her marriage, Wichita lost two children. Her second baby girl, Jessica, died from a virus. Then precious little Danny was hit by a drunk driver from town. Columbus buried them both in the new field. Little Rock was as devastated as Wichita, especially at losing Daniel. Columbus told his wives they were lucky to have lost so few. Every week he spent at least one long afternoon in the field and returned with eyes still red.

A little before Little Rock's tenth anniversary, Wichita delivered her seventh child, with complications. The doctors at the hospital saved the mother and the child, but could do nothing about her uterus. Wichita was left with five children, three boys and two girls. She was 36. She cried for weeks, mourning the children she had lost, and the ones she could not bear. Then after due time, Columbus took her to bed and told her, "We had a good run. Now we can just enjoy." Then for the first time, she laughed after it was done. Thereafter, they spent more and more time walking, and working, and talking together. He found her more beautiful, too, as she began to work off the compound interest of pounds from the children she had born to keep his love. By the time she was 39, she was able to go on a "second honeymoon" wearing clothes that had not fit her since her first.

On the day Little Rock turned 30, Columbus and Wichita took her out to a beloved little greenhouse he had unveiled for her long ago on some occasion none of them could remember for certain. He took her to the wall behind her first and favorite rose bush. "Where's the _new_ gift?" she asked.

Her husband would not- could not answer. So Wichita said, "We wanted to show this to you a long time ago, but we didn't know if you could handle it. We decided now was the time." Without a moment of hesitation or uncertainty, Columbus took a pry bar to one particular brick in the wall and wrenched it loose with a single tug. Little Rock looked in. For a moment, she was uncertain what it was for a moment, and for a little longer she was uncertain what it meant. Then she was on her knees, her husband with her, crying in front of the thimble-sized urn that held her son.

On the day of Little Rock's 20th anniversary, little Lizzy announced that a boy from the school in the city had proposed to her, and she was accepting. Two years later to the day, Columbus joyfully raised up his first grandchild. At Little Rock's suggestion, the child was named Austin, and the birth certificate said "Austin the Third". His grandfather finally admitted to being named Austin. What no one said was that "Austin, Jr." was not the name on his birth certificate, but on the tiny silver urn in Little Rock's jewelry box.

Then, as she returned to the homestead and retired to bed, and her husband lay between his wives, eyes closed but ears awake, she whispered in his ear: _"I'm pregnant."_

_And this is the world as best as I can remember it _


End file.
